Deeper Concerns
Ms. Robinson,
I was at that city council meeting, and as well as sharing your concerns re: the trees, I believe there is a more troubling issue here. The motion to remove the trees was in fact proposed by a WP city council member, living in Orchid Hill, whose property directly backs up to Beechwood Road, and will directly benefit from having the trees removed at WP's expense. I feel that the motion should not have been proposed by that city council member, and when the voting took place, should've abstained. If other Orchid Hill residents share the opinion of the council member, then they should've taken it upon themselves to address the council with a possible motion. I believe a direct conflict-of-interest has arisen. It seems like a pet project to me, at our expense. Perhaps our Ethics Committee should look into it. According to the directory, they are Brent Fryear 897-5464, William Enix 609-2119, and Samuel R. Pruitt 8953-8282. Furthermore, I have before asked that agendas be posted here prior to meetings. LouMetro does it, and since we model ourselves so heavily on their form of government, what would be the harm in doing so here? Not every meeting is going to pertain to every resident. However, a posted agenda would CERTAINLY avoid these kind of stealthy votes.
By Kim Horn
Ms. Robinson,
I was at that city council meeting, and as well as sharing your concerns re: the trees, I believe there is a more troubling issue here. The motion to remove the trees was in fact proposed by a WP city council member, living in Orchid Hill, whose property directly backs up to Beechwood Road, and will directly benefit from having the trees removed at WP's expense. I feel that the motion should not have been proposed by that city council member, and when the voting took place, should've abstained. If other Orchid Hill residents share the opinion of the council member, then they should've taken it upon themselves to address the council with a possible motion. I believe a direct conflict-of-interest has arisen. It seems like a pet project to me, at our expense. Perhaps our Ethics Committee should look into it. According to the directory, they are Brent Fryear 897-5464, William Enix 609-2119, and Samuel R. Pruitt 8953-8282. Furthermore, I have before asked that agendas be posted here prior to meetings. LouMetro does it, and since we model ourselves so heavily on their form of government, what would be the harm in doing so here? Not every meeting is going to pertain to every resident. However, a posted agenda would CERTAINLY avoid these kind of stealthy votes.
By Kim Horn